SharePoint 2010, you can finally do List Joins in CAML.  This would be a great boon to the type of views that you can create in SharePoint and in code.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee539975(office.14).aspx

There is a catch – it looks like the field that you can use for joins must be a Lookup type field to the foreign list.

Join type can be LEFT or INNER.

Given that LINQ to SharePoint sits on top of CAML – all the LINQ join statements will translate properly as well.

When I first started developing with SharePoint, I really hated CAML. 

In time, I’ve learnt to live with CAML, the lack of good tools drives me crazy.  But it is a necessary evil when you work in SharePoint.